Obama Won, But It's a Shame This Country Has So Few Candidates Worthy of Respect

The president and his party survived endless partisan sniping, a troubled economy, and a poisonous campaign and emerged victorious, at least in terms of the election. The afterward. has yet to be written of course but some things have been bathed in the unforgiving white glare of political daylight. It was actually amazing that so many conservative candidates received serious consideration, not only by the party faithful but by others swept along in an odd mixture of sophistry and zealotry who tended to cling mindlessly to “guns and religion” as a substitute for the rigors of anything resembling rational thought.

What was so remarkable throughout was the willingness of some to accept the obvious lies Romney and his supporters kept using in an attempt to destroy the competitive edge Democrats had been amassing.as they enlarged their base. Meanwhile in the aftermath of a decisive electoral defeat people like Grover Norquist, among others, explained away their losses as ‘messaging lapses.’ It may have been as some have suggested that there just weren’t enough “angry white men.” On the other hand Ron Reagan, Jr, taking aim at the conservative social agenda, said ‘most people didn’t want Antonin Scalia in their bedroom.- - a certainty for sure.

And while attempts continued to define the “real Romney” his reality remained as elusive as ever because outside of his business acumen there wasn’t a great deal of substance there. Efforts of wife Ann ended by exhausting her and not impressing voters that he was a witty fellow of enormous charm - - bad laugh and the dog thing didn’t help. What some people never seem to have grasped is that running the government isn’t the same as running a business. That’s why the solution to let the car industry go bankrupt wasn’t a well-articulated plan, especially since there was no private source to finance digging the companies out of bankruptcy the way it might have worked in the financial world previously, Besides in business situations one can turn a blind eye as it were toward displaced personnel while governments remain the first responders for the well-being of those they govern.

It is puzzling in the extreme that there are those who continue to lend credence to someone like as selfish and egotistical as Donald Trump as if his millions made up for his lack of intellect and integrity. As Brian Williams put it “Trump has driven well past the last exit to relevance and veered into something closer to irresponsible.” In the end questions about the president’s birthright and his intellectual aptitude made Trump look ridiculous not the other way around. It’s hard to say what drives a man like Trump, what need keeps him operating in the public sphere long after any call for his presence remains. He exemplifies a Citizens-United mentality that has become manifest in our political lives. Well at least we dodged that bullet, only to run headlong into the waiting arms of another business mogul only slightly more qualified than Trump. When will we learn that running a country is not the same thing as running a business, no matter how tempting it may be to imagine it is?

Hopefully we will have learned some lessons from this election and that in the future we will put country ahead of personal ambition and partisan frolics.